Electricity Rates by State

The national average residential electricity rate is approximately $0.16 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). However, rates vary significantly by state, ranging from about $0.10/kWh in states like Utah and Idaho to over $0.35/kWh in Hawaii.

Electricity rates are rising due to aging grid infrastructure requiring costly upgrades, increasing fuel costs, stricter environmental regulations, extreme weather events damaging power systems, and growing demand from electric vehicles and data centers. Most states see annual increases of 2-5%.

Solar panels generate electricity from sunlight, reducing or eliminating the amount of power you need to buy from your utility. Most homeowners can offset 50-90% of their electricity usage with solar, and with net metering, you can earn credits for excess energy sent back to the grid. Once installed, solar provides essentially free electricity for 25+ years.

Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire consistently have the highest electricity rates in the U.S. These states also tend to have the best solar payback periods because the savings from replacing expensive grid electricity are greater.

In deregulated states (like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, and 14 others), you can choose your electricity supplier instead of being limited to your local utility. This means you can compare rates from multiple providers and shop for the cheapest electricity plan in your area. Your local utility still delivers the power, but you pick who generates it.

If you live in a deregulated state, visit your state's public utility commission website or use your state page on our site to see current utility rates. Compare fixed-rate vs. variable-rate plans, check contract lengths, and watch for introductory rates that increase later. In regulated states, your rate is set by the utility, but solar panels let you generate your own power at a locked-in cost.